Twenty-five games into the 2024-25 season, the Indiana Pacers, returning Eastern Conference Finalists, had a 10–15 record and a slew of injuries. Star Tyrese Haliburton took the brunt of the blame — in one January article, published the day the Pacers finally crept over .500, The Ringer questioned his ability to become a franchise player, saying he “fluctuates between rapturous and invisible.”
Six months later, he and his teammates were legends. By the end of the regular season, the Pacers had won 50 games, their best record since 2013, playing a quick and collaborative style that flowed through Haliburton. Their team chemistry made them impossible not to love. Their secret sauce? “The power of friendship,” players…
